THE PLAIN DEALER, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1974

Parole board tries to solve 'sex' target's dilemma

By Richard C. Widman

LUCASVILLE, O. The Ohio Parole Board has the uneasy job of dispensing justice according to the requirements of state law and the rules of the Ohio Parole Authority.

The following report observes a difficut case at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville when the board conducted hearings there recently with a reporter in attendance:

The file examined by parole board members on Keith W., 21, from a rural eastern Ohio community, is voluminous.

It reveals that he is unmarried, has a sixth-grade education, and has been here for nine months, having been transferred from another prison where he allegedly attempted to es-

cape.

His last conviction was för daylight breaking and entering. He was once convicted of bank robbery, but the judge set the sentence aside.

The records show that he has been involved in a number of outbreaks of violence, connected with sex, during his incarcerations.

Last of a series

Guards recently found a knife in his cell. The blade was filed to a sharp edge and the handle was wrapped with tape.

The two board members pondered his record:

First board member: "He attempted suicide six months ago; cut his wrists and nearly bled to death. Do we have a psychiatric record for him? He had quite a stormy record at the Mansfield reformatory sex and violence. I wonder if he was the aggressor. He looks effeminate."

Second board member: "A guard captain sent this

letter asking that he be given protection because he (Keith W.) was the constant victim of homosexual attacks."

Keith W. was summoned. He has a slight physique but he does not appear effeminate.

First board member: "You're currently in protective custody. Why?"

Keith W.: "Yes. There are a lot of problems in the institution right now. Someone tries to force something on you."

First board member: "Why do you think you are a sex target?"

...

Keith W.: "My size You can come out of the 'hole' (protective isolation) and fight it, and still get into trouble."

First board member: "Why did you, the last time you were out, with these experiences behind you, why did you get in trouble again?"

Keith W.: “I wasn't ready to... because I had a lot of this (homosexual assaults) on my mind. I was confused. I didn't know where to fit in. I couldn't find anyone my own age to associate with.”

First board member "Did you discuss this with your parole officer?"

Keith W.: "I wanted to, about these things back here. but he wasn't interested in personal problems. I really wanted someone I could rap (talk) with."

He got a job driving a truck at a grain elevator the last time he was on parole. The first day on the job, local-police came to his place of employment and took Keith W. to the police station to be fingerprinted and a new photograph made for local police records.

Keith W.: "When I went back to the elevator, the boss said he didn't want this. He said he had already given me one chance. He fired me. And I enjoyed the job, too, because I was doing something."

Second board member: "Why did you commit the last breaking and entering."

Keith W.: "I was lonely. I thought I would get a PV (parole violation) to Lucasville. I know that's hard to understand."

First board member: “Why did you want to come to Lucasville?"

Keith W.: "Because I identified, with people here."

He said that if paroled, he would go to Florida to live with relatives. But if turned down for parole, he would continue to insist he be held in isolation, where the food is bad and there are no privileges.

When the inmate was sent out of the room, the second board member said, "No way in hell that kid can survive in this institution?”

The first board member agreed but added, "I can't

condone what he did, carrying a knife."

Second board member: "I don't either, but sometimes a guy has to. I want him to have psychiatric counseling, not so much for the psychiatric report as for the counseling that he needs.

Keith W. was summoned

and the second board member told him that his parole would be put off for a year while he receives psychological counseling. The board member seemed concerned that Keith W. understand the reason for the continuance, that he understood that the board wanted to try to provide the help he

seemed to seek unsuccessfully.

Keith W. Said he understood the reasons.

In an unusual move, the second board member had a guard bring in a prison staff psychologist to see him in the interview room.

Second board member:

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"He seems to be a rather lonely young man reaching out for someone to herp him. We're telling you this because we didn't want him lost in the shuffle. He's a sex target and now is the time to save him, or he'll be destroyed. I think this is the worst place in the world for him."